A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Cracker brack
Nuala Hickey, whose brothers John and Eamon are both professional show-jumpers based in Sweden, stayed closer to home to carve out her career and she now heads up her family’s fourth generation bakery in Clonmel, Co Tipperary. Having taken gold at the recent Blas na hEireann awards, her “seriously fruity” barm bracks have been given a stylish new packaging revamp, and can be bought online for delivery to addresses in Ireland and the UK. They come in three sizes, costing from €7.25 up to €9.75 for the large one, which really is gigantic, weighing over a kilo. Courier delivery costs a further €7.50 to addresses in Ireland and €9.50 to the UK. They are also available from Hickeys in Clonmel, Ardkeen Quality Food Stores in Waterford, Hurley’s Supervalu Middleton, Morrissey’s Supervalu in Cashel, Garvey’s Supervalu in Dingle and Grehan’s Centra in Dungarvan.
Dream job for chocolate lovers
If chocolate taster is right up there in your list of fantasy jobs, it could become a reality, if you have the palate and “nose” for the job. Green Black’s is searching for a taste assistant to take up a dream job that will involve travelling the world to source ingredients, devising new taste combinations, and testing new products. There is a salary of £35,000 on offer, and you can apply online at greenandblacks.com. Candidates will have to do a blind taste test as part of the job selection and the final five will participate in a cookery-based challenge.
It might be an idea, if you’re thinking of applying, to get hold of the new Green Black’s book, Ultimate Chocolate Recipes: The New Collection (Kyle Cathie, £16.99), edited by Micah Carr-Hill, the company’s grandly named “head of taste”. This is the seventh book from this stable, and it has a baking theme, so there are lots of decadent cakes and mouthwatering desserts to drool over.
Still on chocolate – Willie Harcourt Cooze of Willie’s Wonky Chocolate Factory fame, is hosting a chocolate inspired three-course lunch at Harvey Nichols in Dundrum, Dublin 14 next Tuesday. Tickets are €30, including a glass of Prosecco, and can be booked by telephoning 01-2910488.
And if making gifts rather than buying them is on your agenda this Christmas, snap up a place on the day-long course to be given by Dundalk-born chocolatier Gerard Coleman at the Dublin Cookery School on Saturday, November 6th. Coleman, who makes his chocolate from scratch from imported beans at his l'Artisan du Chocolate atelier in Kent, has chocolate boutiques in London, Manchester and Birmingham, and supplies his signature liquid salted caramel spheres to top restaurateurs including Gordon Ramsey. The Dublin Cookery School date will be an interactive demonstration, and the €155 fee will include lunch. See dublincookeryschool.ie. mcdigby@irishtimes.com
Holiday seasons
There’s a huge pumpkin on display in Fallon Byrne food market in Dublin 2, and if you correctly guess its not inconsiderable weight, you could win dinner for two in the FB restaurant. The giant specimen was imported from California to add a bit of seasonal cheer to the Exchequer Street premises, which hosts a seasonal wine and food tasting on Thursday, November 11th. The free evening event (4pm to 9pm) is open to everyone, and more than 50 food products and 25 wines will be presented by the people who make and import them.
